Improvement in arranging water-tubes for cooling the breech of ordnance



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH HURSH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ARRANGING WATER-TUBES FOR COOLING THE BREECH OF ORDNANCE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,877. dated July 15, 1862.

To (ZZZ whom, it may concern):

Be it known that I, JOSEPH HURsH, of th city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cannons; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the construction and opera tion of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specifioation, in which.-

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the gun. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same at the red line a b of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a cross-section at the red line a d of Fig. 1. Fig. A isa rear View of the chamber-ring D detached. Fig. 5 is a face View of the chamberring F.

Like letters inall the figures represent the same parts.

The nature of my invention consists in the combination of a series of tubes around the barrel of the gun, for the passage of cold water or air for the purpose of cooling the gun during rapid firing of the same.

To enable others skilled in the art tomake and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the barrel of the gun.

- B is a jacket which surrounds the rear or breech end of the same.

0 O C O and C O O are tubes which extend through the interior of the jacket, and which surround the breech end of the barrel A, for the passage of cold water for the purpose of cooling the barrel, to admit of the rapid firing of the gun.

D is a ring which surrounds the barrel A at the front end of the jacket B, and which forms an annular chamber, E, on the barrel, with which the above-described tubes are connected at their front ends by means of openings a, as

seen in Fig. 4. The said ring has a flange, b,

' with openings 0, through which screws pass into the end of the jacket B to confine the ring in its place. The ring F, on the rear end of the jacket B, is confined by means of screws in the openings 0 of the flange d. The said ring, being hollow on its inside and fitting on the annulardepression d of the jacket B,

There being partitions f f in the said chamher, the water, as it enters the latter, passes through the tubes 0 C O G into the chamber E, and from it into the front ends of the tubes 0, G, and C, and flows back into the chamber G, beneath the partitions f f, and makes its exit through the discharge-pipe L.

If desired, the supply-pipeH and dischargepipe I may be at opposite ends of the jacket B, so as to have the water enter the cooling-tubes at one end and pass out at the other. Then the partitions f f are dispensed with; or the circuit of the water may be extended by having a continuous stream passing through the tubes in succession, from the highest to the lowest, by means of partitions so arranged in the chambers E and G as to effect such operation.

J is a sighting-tube arranged within one of the cooling-tubes O, leaving a sufficient space between the latter and the former for a current of water. The ends of the said sightingtube extend through the rings I) andF through suitable openings, which are made water-tight. The rear end of said tube is shown in Figs. 1

. and 5. There may beasighting-tube arranged in each of the cooling-tubes, which will enable the gunners to get a much more perfect range of an object than is ordinarily obtained.

IVhen it may be inconvenient to use water for cooling the gun, the object may be partially accomplished by taking off the chamber-rings D and F to allow currents of cold air to flow through the tubes, in lieu of the water. In this case the sighting-tube J is dispensed with,and the cooling-tubes, being open at each end, are used for sighting.

My usual plan of constructing the gun with the cooling-tubes is as follows: In the first place, I construct the barrel A with the tubes, and then cast the jacket B around the same. In the cooling of the jacket, the particles of iron composing the rear end of the barrel A are consequently condensed by the shrinking of the jacket, thereby giving increased cohesive strength to the iron. As all founders are familiar with the mode of preparing the molds to cast bodies of iron around other pieces, a particular description I deem unnecessary.

I am aware that a cooling-tube winding around the barrel of the gun has been patented; but this mode of construction and arrangement is liable to serious objections, es-

pecially as to its filling with sediment, it having no way of being cleaned out. Mine is free from this objection, as by taking off the chamber-rings D and F the tubes, being straight, can readily be cleaned. Another ad- Vantage is in my having the facility of using the sighting-tube J, or in using the coolingtubes also for sighting when the chamber-rings D and F are removed for the purpose of allowing cold air to flow through them for cooling the barrel. In the heating of the gun the air in the tubes will consequently become rarefied, and the surrounding air, which is denser and colder, will continually rush in to take its place in a more perfect degree than in a winding tube.

Having thus fully described the improve ment in cannons invented by me, I do not claim, broadly, the use of cooling-tubes; but

I claim- 1. Constructing the barrel wit-l1 a series of. straight tubes arranged, substantially as dcscribed, in relation to the barrel and to the jacket which is cast around it. the tubes being connected with the chambers E and G, or their equivalents.

2. Arranging the sighting-tube J in one of the cooling-tubes, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony that the above is my invention I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 12th day of June, 1862.

JOSEPH HURSH. [1,. s.

Witnesses:

STEPHEN UsrIcK, Tnowas J. BEwLnY. 

